Cliffhanger
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: 'What were you thinking? – 'Saving you.' – 'Saving me? You were the one about to fall off the cliff'


Author's Notes

This doesn't fit anywhere in particular in the anime. You'll see why when you read it. You might say it's AU, but it's just a snippit so I guess it doesn't really matter.

Enjoy, and tell me what you think.

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Cliffhanger

'What were you thinking? – 'Saving you.' – 'Saving me? You were the one about to fall off the cliff!'

Kouji M & Kouichi K

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Neither of them were quite sure how they wound up in that situation...or how their little predicament had gone unnoticed. It presumably had something to do with the battle waging on: ahead of one twin, behind the other, if only because they were facing each other…somewhat.

It _should_ have been an easy battle. Okuwamon was a Perfect Digimon. There were six of them, two capable of Double-Spirit Evolution and the rest up to Beast Level. So how was it that only three of them – the three capable of flying – were still engaged in battle?

Izumi, Takuya and Junpei were preoccupied with building up a storm…which may or may not have been intentional. Regardless, a storm was what they had produced from their efforts, which while forcing the bug into the air where they, more accustomed to the weather conditions, had the advantage, they'd forgotten about the three who were grounded. Admittedly, it was the better strategy even if did advantage half their team; they could still fire attacks from the ground.

The main problem had been the rain that had suddenly started pouring down to accompany the man-made storm. While that had served to enhance Blitzmon's electrical attacks and Tomoki's ice, it had caused problems for both twins…but more so KaiserLeomon with his four digizoid-clad paws. Bewulfmon at least walked upon two feet, so if he slipped, he had two hands to catch himself with.

Kouichi didn't. Which was the gist of how they'd wound up in that situation. Water and ice, particularly when a mix of electricity, wind and fire serving as a screen, made one particularly prone to slipping and falling. And it was just their luck to be engaged in a fight precariously near a cliff's edge. So, predictably, he'd slipped right off. Luckily Kouji had been nearby and heard the shout, but as paws are a great deal harder to latch onto than hands, both had devolved. Actually, Kouichi's was arguably not a voluntary de-digivolution.

In any case, Kouji managed to catch his brother's fingers as their feet scrambled for a foot-hold. Upon the extra weight, the younger twin immediately slid forward an inch before Kouichi's panicked voice reached his ears.

'Lean backwards!'

_Lean backwards,_ Kouji thought to himself, following the command. _Right…_

He did carefully, and slid a little less...but both of them were still sliding closer to the cliff's face, and the drop beyond.

Kouichi tried to throw himself forward, but the angle was all wrong. At this rate, his weight was going to drag them both down. He spared a look down, then draw a quick breath, banishing the dizziness that clawed its way to the surface of his mind. _This isn't working…_If one of the flying hybrids weren't occupied, they could help. _But at this rate…_

He didn't exactly think about what he did next as he felt himself slide further back and knew the other was facing the same fate. But the other foot slid off the ground –

– and crushing pain was shooting up his right arm as it slammed into the rock that carved away from the mountain. There was a cry from above, and he wasn't quite sure how he had managed to hear it…but heard it he had, even over the shriek of pain that had escaped from his mouth.

Darkness continued to claw at his vision until the other managed to pull him up onto the drenched face as the lightning and wind whipping around them finally ceased. The younger twin assumed that meant the fight was done, but he had bigger things to worry about. Namely his brother with his eyes closed, his face drained of almost all colour, and his arm which looked alarmingly swollen (considering the short time frame). The blood he couldn't see until he managed to pry the sleeve up (Kouichi had gritted his teeth and let out a low moan of pain at the movement). The sleeve itself was a shade of red after all.

Kouji was going to have a word with his brother about the choice of colour…after they got the arm fixed.

'I thought you had your foot hooked!' His voice was a little higher in pitch than it normally would be.

''twas,' the other mumbled, forcing his eyes open. 'W'were both goin' to fall.' The words were somewhat rolling over each other from the pained slur, but it was still understandable. Kouichi was breathing somewhat harshly still, but it slowed once Kumamon came over and iced the arm. A small smile slid over his face in gratitude. 'Thanks.'

'No worries,' the warrior of ice grinned, before scratching his head. 'You're not going to wind up with frost-bite, are you?'

'That's got to be better than a broken arm,' Junpei pointed out, before frowning. '_Is_ it broken?'

'We're so sorry.' That was Zoe, partway mumbling into her hands. 'That Okuwamon had us busy. We didn't even see you!' Her voice was rising too, and all the boys winced. 'Sorry,' she amended, dropping it.

'Still,' Kouji restarted, clawing onto the old strain as his twin's face relaxed and he closed his eyes again. 'What were you thinking? I fail to see how us slipping off the cliff and dangling on the edge is any better than a broken arm.'

'We might have fallen,' Kouichi whispered, faintly but far clearer than his previous statement. '…saving you.' The first part of his second statement vanished into the air.

'Saving me?' Kouji repeated incredulously. 'I thought that was my job. You were the one about to fall off the cliff.'

'You would have fallen with me,' the elder twin pointed out, left and unhurt arm looking for a foothold.

'What are we going to do about that arm though?' Takuya asked. 'None of us know how to, and it's not like there's an X-ray machine around.'

'There are Digimon Doctors,' both Kouichi and Bokomon replied. The latter continued: 'The nearest one is a practice run by Andromon and Monzaemon. They're in the forest.'

The five unharmed humans looked at the expanse of forest beneath them. 'Where exactly?' Takuya asked.

'Umm…' There was the sound of flipping pages and Bokomon consulted his book. 'The northern edge.'

It would figure they were at the north edge of the mountain, and that was the edge where the face dropped down without a safe passage.

'I guess we're flying,' the warrior of flame said eventually. 'I for one am not looking forward to that long trek to the _other_ side of the mountain, and then down, and then that huge loop across.'

Kouji glared, but the smile on Kouichi's face grew somewhat wider…until Zephyrmon announced her choice of passenger, upon which he blushed bright red…and then cried out when his arm was jolted.

Apparently, the ice didn't numb it completely…which turned out to be a good thing, otherwise he would have had a problem working it. As it was, he wound up having some trouble till the teddy-bear digimon deemed it repaired enough for a "bear massage".


End file.
